In a computer local area network ("LAN") environment, it is necessary for a computer system designated as the "server" or "administrator" to determine the addresses of any client computer systems connected to the LAN in order to remotely access information therefrom. In order to accomplish this, the administrator must "discover," or determine the identity of, all clients on the LAN. Currently, this discovery process is performed by the administrator independently addressing, or "pinging," each IP address and awaiting a response indicating that a client is present at that address. No response indicates that a client is not present. At the end of this process, the administrator knows at which IP addresses clients are installed, as well as the IP address of each such client.
While this process is effective, in that it enables the administrator reliably to determine the IP addresses of clients on a LAN, it is very time consuming. Specifically, it can take between three and four hours for the administrator to ping each network IP address and determine where the clients are installed.
Accordingly, what is needed is a more efficient method of discovering clients running on a LAN.